Vol 5. Chapter 43: Isn’t This Umbrella a Little Small?

After figuring out what kind of situation he was in, Vinny’s face rapidly flushed with blood, and his eyes were almost about to turn into mosquito coils.

Gah, gah, gah?!

In a secluded, undisturbed corner Training Field somewhere inside the arena, two girls stood in the vast training grounds, maintaining an extremely ambiguous and strange posture.

They were clearly inside a Training Field, yet from the look of their positions, they did not seem as though they had come to train.

The silver-haired girl’s black-stockinged knee pressed against the back of the blue-haired girl’s black-stockinged knee. One hand held the blue-haired girl, who had nearly fallen to the ground, while the other lightly pinched the jaw of the still-bewildered girl.

Not only was the posture subtle, their expressions were also quite subtle. One was filled with teasing and flirtation, while the other’s face had already flushed so red that she had gone offline.

Their movements looked like anything but training. The ambiguous atmosphere spoke for itself.

Vinny, who was being held, remained stunned for a full three point nine seconds, or perhaps three point eight seconds, before finally coming back to his senses. His face and ears were red, and he stammered incoherently.

After seeing that triumphant smile hanging at the corner of Aesphyra’s lips, Vinny knew this girl had definitely done it on purpose.

Tch! This girl couldn’t be thinking that she lost face earlier and wanted to get it back here, could she??

“Vinnia, are you all right? You didn’t fall, did you?” Aesphyra’s eyes shimmered like a galaxy.

“Y-you let go first.”

“Huh? Are you sure you want me to let go now?”

“Wait a second!” Vinny rolled his eyes at Aesphyra, his face full of shame. He righted his posture, confirmed that he would not fall, and then signaled for her to release him.

After Aesphyra let go of him, Vinny turned his gaze aside and shifted closer to the edge.

Seriously, how did things end up like this again?

“You, seriously. And you still say you’re not childish? You’re just like a kid. So petty. You even said you didn’t care. I already said I didn’t do that on purpose just now.” Vinny glanced askance at Aesphyra, then withdrew his gaze and looked elsewhere.

“Just now? What happened just now? Vinnia, you can’t expect me to watch you fall right in front of my eyes, can you?” Aesphyra smiled without quite smiling.

“Keep pretending. Then why did you add so many extra movements?” Vinny crossed his arms and said irritably.

This girl was acting as if she absolutely could not stand being the one at a disadvantage. The moment there was the slightest sign of it, she had to regain the ground she lost. Who exactly was she competing with??

What was she doing?!

Vinny turned his gaze aside, putting on an attitude as though he did not want to deal with Aesphyra. In truth, his thoughts were like tangled, messy threads at this moment, utterly chaotic.

And why that kind of posture? He was at least a man, all right? He was also taller than this white-haired nut ball, so why was it always like this every time?

His last remaining shred of self-esteem made Vinny feel that this was extremely humiliating and embarrassing.

The two of them had trained for a while as well, so Aesphyra suggested they rest for a bit before continuing.

“Hey, I’m saying, do we have to train this today?” Vinny could not help asking as he sat in the rest area on the side.

“Hand-to-hand combat is also part of strength. Vinnia, sooner or later, you’ll have a use for it. If you sweat a little more now, maybe it’ll help you avoid a lot of trouble later?”

“You make it sound so nice, but I think you’re purely hung up on what happened just now and want to get back at this young master by beating me up, don’t you??” Vinny snorted. “What do you mean, sweat more? You might as well just tell me to get hit more.”

“Vinnia, don’t be impatient. I know you really want to train other areas, but hand-to-hand combat really is important. You can’t neglect it. Tomorrow, we’ll train something else.” Aesphyra analyzed the situation in an orderly manner.

“Using public duty for private revenge. I’d believe you if you weren’t simply trying to beat me up.” Vinny rolled his eyes at Aesphyra while tidying his hair. The fight earlier had messed up his hair, but Aesphyra, on the other hand, remained calm and composed, completely at ease. He could not even find a single strand of hair that looked even slightly messy.

After resting, the two of them continued training. When it came to fists and kicks, Vinny naturally could not compare to Aesphyra at all. It was a complete one-sided crush, and he was pressed down and beaten.

Of course, saying he was pressed down and beaten was not exactly accurate either, because Aesphyra never struck heavily from start to finish. Whenever she was about to hit Vinny, she would stop.

Sometimes, when her fist approached Vinny’s face, it would turn into a forehead flick, lightly flicking his head before Vinny clutched his forehead and made strange “jibber-jabber” cries. Sometimes, she would make Vinny lose his balance, then reenact the standard banquet scene once more by grabbing Vinny’s hand and gently pulling him back. Other times, she would seize a sudden opportunity, flash behind Vinny, and poke the back of his neck with a finger to startle him.

After the whole sequence, Vinny felt as if he were dancing a ballet. The only problem was that he did not know how to dance at all and was the one being forcibly dragged into the dance. Where his next footstep should land was not something he could decide. It was all decided by the lead dancer. Even he himself did not know what he was dancing.

“Vinnia, what are you doing? Rest time isn’t here yet.” Aesphyra looked at the blue-haired girl crouching in the corner, arms wrapped around her knees and sulking, and found it rather amusing.

[Virtue +50.]

[Current Virtue: 939.]

“I’m not doing it anymore!” Vinny’s lips jutted out high as he activated full pout mode. “You’re just bullying me! I already said I’m not good at this at all!”

“It’s precisely because you’re not good at it that you need to practice, isn’t it?” Aesphyra said with a smiling expression. Then, in a tone used to coax a child, she said, “All right, all right. Cute little baby Vinnia, I know I was wrong. I’ll let you rest for a bit. Once you’ve rested enough, you have to come back, okay? You promised~ If you train well, I’ll reward you with a pacifier today.”

“Pacifier your head! Are you treating me like a kid??” Hearing this, Vinny became even angrier. And so, in a fit of anger, he got angry.

There was nothing he could do. He could not beat Aesphyra anyway.

Tch, don’t get angry, don’t get angry. If he got angry, he would be falling right into this pocket-sized little bun’s trap! At that point, she would reverse-burst Virtue out of him.

And she called him a child? This was turning heaven’s order upside down. Her behavior was obviously more like a little baby’s!

“Forget it. I won’t lower myself to a child’s level,” Vinny muttered softly.

“Vinnia, have you rested enough~?”

“I—” Just as Vinnia was about to answer, a brisk piano melody sounded inside the arena. It was the sound reminding all students in training that the arena was about to close for closed-door training.

“Time passed so quickly.” Aesphyra shook her head. “Looks like it’ll have to be tomorrow.”

“Tch.” Vinny stood up.

“Let’s go, Vinnia. I’ll take you home.”

“Take? Take what? Does this young master not have legs?” Vinny crossed his arms and puffed out his cheeks. “I don’t need you to take me. You’d better worry about whether you, this nut ball, will slip halfway down the road and be unable to stop!”

“It’s completely dark out. I’m worried Vinnia won’t watch the road halfway and will fall into a puddle.” Aesphyra smiled playfully. “If the new clothes you bought so happily get dirty then, Vinnia might be heartbroken for a long time.”

She had always really liked this stubborn, tsundere-mouthed side of Vinny. Especially in Vinnia’s appearance, he looked exactly like a blue-haired, twin-tailed tsundere beauty.

How strange. Had she always liked this type? Or was it because this trait appeared on the person she liked, and so she loved even the house and its crows?

“Can you stop always using that weird word to describe me??” Vinny looked at Aesphyra angrily. “This young master isn’t a little girl playing with Barbie dolls, all right!”

“Isn’t that exactly what you are?” Aesphyra tilted her head. Although she did not know what a Barbie doll was, judging by the feeling and the context, it should be a toy sold to children.

“Tch!” Vinny repeated the words “don’t get angry, don’t get angry” in his heart over and over. He felt that ever since he had met Aesphyra, he had become much more Buddha-like as a person. If this had been his previous life, once he circulated his cultivation, his fifteen years of power from a certain forum would make whoever came die on arrival. No one could stop him.

As for this life, he always felt that the more he lived, the more his power declined.

“And outside, it’s still raining right now. Vinnia, did you bring an umbrella?” Aesphyra glanced out the window and asked curiously.

“Huh?” Vinny froze. “Outside, the rain still hasn’t stopped??”

It looked like that was indeed the case. Through the arena’s floor-to-ceiling glass windows, it was clear that the rain outside was still falling. At most, it was a little lighter than when it first started, but not by much. It was still raining hard.

Vinny became conflicted. He lowered his head and pinched his skirt.

The rain on Tyrelis Continent should not have impurities, right?

Although this outfit was made of quick-drying fabric, that was only because sweat was not much. If such heavy rain soaked it, that would still be awful, wouldn’t it?

Being drenched all over, with even his shoes filled with water, would be far too awful.

“All right, Vinnia, don’t stand there in a daze.” During this moment, Aesphyra had already put away the training spear and training sword they had used and taken out the umbrella she had brought with her.

“I don’t think this rain has any intention of stopping at all. If we keep waiting here for it to stop, we might have to wait until late at night, and that would delay class tomorrow.”

“I know.” Vinny pinched his skirt hem and made “gloop-gloop” sounds like a bubbling octopus.

Since things had already come to this, this was the only way.

But do not misunderstand. He simply did not want to get his new clothes wet, that was all. Those were his money!

Aside from that, there was no other reason. Even if anyone pointed one out, he would not admit it!

And so, he followed behind Aesphyra and arrived at the arena entrance.

The arena’s main doors were huge. If Vinny had to describe them, they were as large as the city gates of Falcon City in the Tyrel Empire. They were extremely spacious.

Normally, at this hour, there would not be so many people here, but with the Chosen Tournament approaching recently, the place was much livelier.

Quite a few students had been trapped at the entrance because it was raining and they had not brought umbrellas. Their eyes were blank with confusion.

“How about we just go? I’ll hold up a water shield.”

“Huh? Are you joking? Didn’t you use up all your mana just now? And you still want to hold up a water shield? If it runs out halfway, won’t the two of us become drowned chickens??” A pair of friends who had likewise come to train together teased each other.

“Don’t look down on me. Just treat it as training.”

“Train your head. With your level, even if you still had mana right now, you wouldn’t be able to move a single step while holding up a water shield. Like I’d believe you.”

It seemed these students had all run into a problem. Most students who came here to train had exhausted their mana, and holding up a shield for that long was extremely difficult.

If they did not want to go home too late, their only choice was to charge into the rain curtain and sing praises to youth in the downpour.

Vinny had no other way either. As one of the lower people who lacked moves, he could not find even one spell that could block rain.

Aesphyra walked to the edge of the eaves, reached out to test the density of the raindrops, and opened her umbrella.

This umbrella even had a curtain. The pattern on the blue umbrella looked like a galaxy, and when it spun, it seemed almost dynamic, like a carpet spread inside a royal palace.

As expected of the young lady of the Galathus Family. Even her umbrella was this flashy.

“Let’s go, Vinnia.” Aesphyra extended a hand toward Vinny. “Don’t get lost.”

Vinny said nothing. His gaze turned to the side and hesitated for a moment. A trace of faint color remained on his cheeks, but he did not refuse.

He took Aesphyra’s hand, walked beneath the umbrella canopy she had opened, and stepped out from under the eaves.

“Is that... Aesphyra?” Many people recognized Aesphyra. After all, both her strength and grades, as well as her appearance, gave Aesphyra extremely high fame within the academy.

However, as for who that pretty blue-haired girl beside her was, the vast majority of them had no idea.

“Boom!” A streak of lightning flashed through the sky.

Under the gloomy rain curtain shrouded in pale white light, two figures slowly moved forward through the rain.

The sound of raindrops striking the ground all around them was very noisy, but for some reason, Vinny felt that his world was very quiet.

There were only those blooming roses and briars, and the intimate, meticulous sheltering care.

Also.

This umbrella, wasn’t it... a little small?

Vinny actually really wanted to complain about this. When this umbrella had opened earlier, it had looked quite large to him, but once he truly hid inside it, he realized it was not as big as he had imagined. It was more like a slightly larger single-person umbrella.

What did that result in?

It resulted in Vinny having no choice but to squeeze together with Aesphyra, pressed very close.

And Aesphyra said it was to prevent him from getting rained on, and because the sky was too dark to see whether he stepped into puddles, so she wrapped an arm around his waist, making him press even closer to her.

On top of the height difference, Aesphyra’s face was very close to his collarbone. Occasionally, he seemed to feel her fragrant breath brushing against it.

[Virtue +100.]

[Current Virtue: 1039.]

The Virtue progress was excellent, but Vinny’s attention was completely not on that right now, so he did not care about the matter at all.

The reason was simple. He was even more at a loss than Aesphyra.

Aesphyra had her arm around him. Then what about him?

What was he supposed to do?

He had absolutely no idea where to put his two hands. He felt that no matter where he put them, it would be inappropriate.